Nearly 18 million people in war-torn Sudan, or approximately 40 percent of the country's population, are currently facing severe food insecurity, and the unprecedented famine may sweep across the entire country without urgent intervention, said a senior official from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently in Port Sudan.
The conflict in Sudan has been ongoing for over a year, with 11 out of the country's 18 states engulfed in warfare. Agricultural infrastructure has been severely damaged, leading to a significant reduction in arable land.
In addition, a large number of people have been displaced, and agricultural inputs such as seeds and pesticides have seen substantial price increases. As a result, agricultural production has been severely affected.
According to data from the FAO, Sudan's grain production, including wheat, decreased by 46 percent compared to the previous year of 2023. This has led to a 60 percent increase in overall food prices in the country last year, with further increases of 50 to 100 percent expected this year.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) by the United Nations, nearly 18 million people in Sudan are currently facing severe food insecurity, with approximately 5 million people in even more dire food emergency conditions, just one step away from famine.
Less than 5 percent of the population nationwide have access to a full meal every day. A United Nations report has stated that Sudan is facing the world's largest hunger crisis.
The FAO said that in the face of such a severe crisis, providing food and financial assistance alone to Sudan is not enough to compensate for the shortfall in local food production. It is also necessary to implement various agricultural intervention measures, such as providing high-quality seeds to help local farmers resume production and offering vaccine support for livestock survival. These measures are essential to help Sudan overcome this large-scale humanitarian crisis.
"We, as FAO, helped more than 5 million food insecure Sudanese across 15 states in 2023. This was through provision of different types of improved seeds, both for the summer and the winter season, supports a livestock," said Rein Paulsen, Director of the FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience.
Currently, humanitarian aid agencies' operations in Sudan are still facing many challenges, including funding shortages and humanitarian access difficulties. The FAO is calling on the international community to provide Sudan with more attention and support.
"In terms of funding to be able to support the more than 10 million people who we are targeting in terms of support in 2024. We, as FAO, need more than 100 million U.S. dollars. Our budget is the request for 104 million U.S. dollars to do that work. So far we are funded at less than 10 percent," said the FAO official.
Since the armed conflict broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15, 2023, regional and international powers have made mediation efforts to convince the warring parties to agree on a political path to ending the conflict. Yet, no significant success has been achieved.
War-torn Sudan facing food crisis, needs urgent aid: FAO official
